


Choose Your Family Wisely

by Callisto_HK



Series: The Children Are Our Future [2]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Abby, Kid Fic, Kid Kate, Kid Tony, Past Child Abuse, Tony DiNozzo & Jethro Gibbs Father-Son Relationship, Tony-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-12
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-08 04:31:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8830531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Callisto_HK/pseuds/Callisto_HK
Summary: Gibbs and Shannon love their kids; adopted or not! They both agree that Tony and Abby are the best things that have happened to them. Kate is the kid who's living with them temporarily, though and she tends to open her mouth and let everything out without thinking when she's angry; a bad habit that she's been warned about a lot of time; because seriously, she could say some really hurtful things on those occasions.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here's another story in this universe; this one is probably gonna have 3 chapters and if I can find enough time between working and doing the university papers and studying for exams, I'll hopefully post a chapter each week, or a chapter every two weeks, at most.
> 
> No Tim in this one.
> 
> I don't own the show and its characters and all mistakes are mine.

OK, so basically, it'd been _Tony_ who'd started their war; it'd started with a simple prank and when Kate had retaliated, the prank war had officially started.

Tony'd been doing everything he could to annoy Kate; sneaking into her room and hiding her books; putting her doll and stuff on the top shelf so she couldn't reach them and then putting one of the jars of Abby's spiders, which Kate hated and was clearly scared of; in her bed. He thought it'd been really considerate and nice of him that he hadn't _opened_ the jar before leaving it there; at least the spider couldn't come out; he could've done just that, but he'd taken pity on her at the last moment.

But to his defense... Well, he had nothing; he was bored and just wanted to have some fun and it wasn't like he could play with Kate and Abby when all they did those days was playing with Abby's new dollhouse; it was stupid and so very boring; Tony couldn't understand how they could enjoy it so much; at least Abby had made Gibbs paint the dollhouse black and its pink color wouldn't blind him every time he stepped inside her room.

He'd tried to keep himself busy with just his books and movies and action figures, but he actually liked spending time with Kate and Abby; they could be fun if they wanted to and he just had to find a way to get Kate remember that playing with pink dolls wasn't cool and fun. But no matter what he did, he kept coming to dead ends and Kate got madder and madder at him; which admittedly was fun to watch and even Abby giggled at how Kate's face would change colors between pink, red and purple.

Those days, hearing Kate screaming Tony's name had become so natural in the house that neither the parents, nor the babysitter ever paid too much attention to it; they pretty much ignored it and minded their own business. Everyone was aware that Kate knew how to retaliate.

Like the times that she, in return, would hang pink ribbons from Tony's bicycle; sneak into Tony's room and wrap all Tony's toys and books in red and pink ribbons and draw pink flowers and hearts in the corner of Tony's notebooks to embarrass him between his friends; once even, with Abby's help, she'd sneaked in his room while he was asleep and together, they'd painted some of his nails pink, put a doll in his arm and then took a picture of him with the Polaroid Camera that Shannon kept in the closet in the living room; and had shown the picture to everyone in the house.

Everyone had laughed at the pictures; everyone except Tony, of course, who, all along, had been planning the perfect revenge in his head.

After getting rid of the picture the girls had taken, Tony had finally decided that freeing the spiders Abby owned in Kate's bag would be the ultimate prank and would teach Kate a lesson for taking that picture of him.

When he went to Kate's room to take her bag to his own room, though, his foot accidentally hit Kate's desk and the photo album which had been left on the desk dropped to the floor. Tony quickly went to pick it up and put it back on the desk, but the album had opened when it'd dropped down and the photos of Kate with her real family caught the boy's attention. He noticed that they all seemed so happy; in every picture that was there, Kate had one or both of her parents with her; with either their hands on her shoulders or their arms half way or fully around her, hugging her to their sides or their chests.

Pictures like that were truly mesmerizing for someone with Tony's past. He absently touched the photos with the tip of his fingers, and even though he loved his new mom and dad more than anything else in this world and was really happy for being with them, he couldn't help but wish that his _real_ mom and dad hadn't hated him so much. He wondered what would've happened if his mother hadn't killed herself. Would, one day, his father finally notice him in a good way? Maybe they could become a real family, then; one like Kate's family. Painfully, he thought that if there had been someone with a camera in his previous house, taking pictures of every event or moment, like with Kate and her family, then _his_ album would've been full of pictures of him being beaten down, belted and thrown into the dark, scary cellar of their house.

That thought made him snicker bitterly and if he'd been just a bit less lost in those hurtful thoughts and memories, he would've noticed Kate coming back to her room; but he didn't notice her until she was suddenly in his face, snatching the album out of his hands and pushing him away forcefully.

Kate, upon entering her room, had found Tony with her photo album in his hands and saw the smirk on his face; she didn't realize it wasn't out of malice, though; she was too young to notice that kind of things and so, automatically, she'd assumed that this was part of their prank war and that Tony was doing something to her photos. It angered her so much that she couldn't even see the startled, scared look that crossed Tony's face when she took the album away from him. She just used all her power and pushed Tony away; feeling pleased when he hit his head against the corner of her bed.

 _'Good, he deserved it.'_ She thought as she stood there and watched him with disdain.

"I hate you." She snapped at him. "How dare you touch my photo album?"

Tony was still too shaken to respond.

And Kate was too angry to stop and see that Tony hadn't done anything to her pictures. "Is this a joke to you? You think it's funny to mess with my family photos? How could you be so mean and annoying? No wonder your family didn't want you and threw you out." She didn't know much about Tony's past; all she knew was that Abby's parents had died, but Tony's parents just hadn't wanted him, so the Gibbs had adopted him.

Tony was so shocked that he couldn't open his mouth and say that he'd just been _looking_ at those photos and had never wanted to do anything to them, and then Kate had said those things about his family not wanting him, which were ironically the very same thoughts that had run through his head when he'd been looking at Kate's photos and he just suddenly felt so broken and dejected.

Kate saw the hurt look on Tony's face and took satisfaction in it. "That's right. I know your real parents didn't want you. Of course you wouldn't understand what family means, but just because you've never been wanted, it doesn't mean everyone is like you. Unlike you, _I_ have a family; my own real mom and dad who love me and I will not let you touch my photos and ruin my memories with them. Soon, my mom will be OK again and I'll go back to live with my family. My real family; people who _want_ me and actually love me. What are _you_ gonna do? You have to _always_ stay here and pretend like the Gibbs are your real family; like they haven't just felt sorry for you when your own family threw you out of their house. That's right; they just felt bad for you and since they're really nice people, they couldn't let you become a street kid; that doesn't make you their son and that doesn't make them your real family. You're so annoying that no one will ever really want you; everyone will at the end see what your mom and dad saw in you and then they'd want to get rid of you, too." The hateful words were just pouring out of her mouth and she wasn't even thinking about them; it was one of her bad habits that her dad had always warned her about; he'd always told her that she'd inherited it from him and so she should be very careful what she said and should never speak when she was angry; because when she was really angry she'd say things that she probably didn't mean at all and those words would just hurt the others. But she couldn't stop herself; so she let her anger out and enjoyed it as Tony lost the color in his face and felt triumphant when by the end of her spiteful rant, the boy stood up and shakily, ran out of her room.

It was then that she noticed Abby standing in the doorway; the younger girl's eyes were as big as saucers and unshed tears had made them really shiny. All that the horrified little girl could utter was: "I hate you. You're so mean." And then she, too, had run out.

Abby went straight to Tony's room; she wanted to tell him that what Kate had said wasn't true and that Tony now had a real family that loved him and would always want him; but all that left her mouth was Tony's name in a whispered tone when she found him hunched in the corner of his room.

Walking to her brother, she quietly sat down by his side and was happy when Tony put an arm around her shoulders. " _I_ will always love you, Tony."

She didn't see how watery Tony's smile was, but felt glad when Tony murmured a thank you. "I wasn't messing with her photos; you know that, right?" He added quietly. "I was just looking at them."

She looked up at him with big eyes.

"I was just thinking how lucky she is when she came back to her room and got mad at me."

"She's so _mean_. I _hate_ her." Abby muttered in a small voice.

Tony squeezed her arm gently. "She was just upset I touched her photos."

"But, Tony! It was really mean to say those things. And it wasn't just about you. My mommy and daddy left me, too. Just because she still has a mommy and daddy doesn't mean she can be mean to us."

"Abs, your mom and dad didn't leave you because they hated you; you know that, right?" Tony was worried that Abby had been thinking differently all this time and had just hidden it. "They'd have never left you if they could help it."

Abby's lower lip was trembling. "They still left."

"Not because they didn't love you. I bet they still love you and watch over you from Heaven." He insisted firmly.

If Tony said those things, then they must be true; because Abby was pretty sure Tony knew _every_ thing and she always believed anything he said. "OK; but your mommy is in Heaven, too. She'll watch over you, too."

Tony wasn't so sure about it, though; because even before she killed herself, his mother didn't care much about Tony. She was always drunk and kept telling him that he needed to learn not to be in the way all the damn time. "She didn't really like me when she was alive." He said quietly. "Kate's right. My real family didn't want me and that's why I'm here. But it's not the same for you."

Forcefully, Abby said, "Kate is _not_ right." OK, so maybe she didn't _always_ believe Tony; just most of the times; because Tony was usually wrong about himself. "And you have a family now and I love you."

"Thanks, Abs. I'm lucky to have you." Tony smiled again.

Kate's scream made them both jump.

"Oh! I left one of the jars of your spiders in her room." He winced. "Gotta go and get it."

"I will." Abby said quickly and jumped up to go before Tony could. "And I promise, I'll never play with her again."

"No, Abby!" Tony's eyes widened. "She's your friend. It's OK. You can-"

"You are my brother. I love you. I don't need a friend when I have _you_. I don't want to play with her. She can go play with her _real family_." She said stubbornly and went to collect her spider from the older girl's room.

**.**

**.**

**TBC ...**

**.**


	2. Chapter 2

That night when the parents got home they felt the heavy atmosphere, which really didn't take a genius to notice; the kids weren't playing; they weren't talking to each other and while it might seem normal between Tony and Kate after a prank, it wasn't like Abby not to talk or play with them; although, it seemed more like Tony wasn't in the mood to play with Abby -or at all- than the other way around if the way she was clinging to Tony was anything to go by. Kate, on the other hand, looked upset that Abby wouldn't even look her way and kept giving Tony the evil eye.

Both Shannon and Gibbs wondered if the kids had gone too far with their jokes, but decided to give them some time and space and see if they'd resolve their problems themselves; but the following night they both came home to the same situation and even though the kids seemed civil enough to answer their questions and not snap at each other, something seemed totally off. Especially since the sweet, happy Abby always kept wrinkling her nose when Kate talked and Tony seemed to be pulling away from everyone except Abby.

Before saying goodnight to Kate, Gibbs asked her if everything was alright, while Shannon did the same with Tony and both kids had answered the same way; that there was no problem at all; the only difference was that Kate had sounded defiant when she uttered those words, while Tony had been clearly subdued and quiet, worried that he wouldn't be believed and therefore scolded.

There was only one way to find out the truth. Abby was clearly the only one who knew everything and if she was taking Tony's side, then there was a good chance that Kate had done something to cause the distress; now they just had to find out what had happened and whether or not anyone was at fault.

The talk with Abby had been enlightening, yet very shocking; the little girl had told them everything she'd heard and seen and then had put her own two cents, claiming that Kate should go live with her own family if she thought it was so bad here and if she wanted to hurt them because they didn't have real moms and dads anymore. The young parents had of course calmed her down and told her that of course Abby and Tony had real parents, too and she should never doubt that or their love for her and Tony.

They'd never thought that Kate would be capable of spitting such hurtful words and decided that she must be under more stress than she was letting on, regarding her sick mother and being forced to stay away from her family; that didn't give her a free pass to snap at people and certainly it didn't mean she could say things like that to Tony. True, she didn't know what Tony had been through, but somehow Gibbs and Shannon, both thought that even if she'd known, she probably would've used them against Tony, as well.

"Should we talk to her, first? Or to Tony?" Gibbs asked his wife, that night; knowing that she always had the best solutions.

"God, what a mess." She blurted out instead of giving an answer.

"Hmm."

"Maybe we made a mistake. Maybe we shouldn't have taken Kate in; she's clearly having a hard time dealing with being away from her mom and dad and can't understand that things aren't the same here as they were in her home."

Jethro shook his head. "Well, she's here now and I don't think we made a mistake; they needed to be sure she's safe and taken care of while they concentrate on Melisa's treatment."

"Yeah." She sighed. "But what about Tony? You heard Abby; Tony already thinks it's _his_ fault his parents were such bastards."

Gibbs snorted. "Language."

Shannon rolled her eyes. "Give me a break. We're alone."

Gibbs took a deep breath. "You're right. The poor kid; Kate does have a sharp tongue and I think we should do something about it if she's gonna stay here."

"Yup." She nodded. "We can't tell her the truth about Tony's past, though. It's really not our story to tell and Tony might lose his trust in us if we do; besides, I'm afraid she might use it against him later if she gets angry again."

"But she needs to apologize to Tony." Gibbs frowned.

"So?" She raised an eyebrow. "She's old enough to get how wrong she's been saying those things to Tony, especially since she's accused Tony falsely of messing with her photos."

"So, Kate first, then?"

"Nah. I think we first gotta talk to Tony." Shannon decided. "Although, it sure will take a long time for him to believe what his biological parents did to him hadn't been _his_ fault and only _they_ are to blame for those things."

Sighing, Gibbs let himself fall on his back on their bad and stared at the ceiling of their room. "Somehow I think he'll never really believe it. Call it a gut feeling, but I feel he'll always, deep down, doubt the love of others for him."

The woman winced. "Can't blame him. The crucial years that should've been spent to show him the meaning of unconditional love and support had been spent on telling him he was all alone and not worthy of anyone's time. We were already 6 years too late to get to him."

"At least we've got him now." Gibbs pointed out.

"True and we can't change the past."

"So we work on the present and the future." Gibbs added wisely.

Shannon bent down and kissed her husband. "Glad we've got him now. He deserves the best."

"You mean _us_?" Gibbs laughed and pulled her down to bed by an arm around her neck.

"Well, you know it." She joined him in his laughter.

.

.

"Hey, Son. How you doing?" Gibbs asked as he opened the door to his son's room and entered, being followed by his wife. They'd both just gotten back home from work and Elise, their babysitter was still downstairs with Kate while Abby stayed in her room to play with her spiders.

Looking up with confusion from the book he was reading, Tony eyed his parents. "I'm... fine. Thanks?"

Shannon gave a little chuckle. "Yeah, it's kinda weird, isn't it?"

"What?" Gibbs frowned.

"Come on; if my parents came to my room like this when I was a kid, I'd be sure that they wanted something. Like, there was this time that they wanted to talk to me about... Umm, about where babies come from and God I was 15! I knew those things already and well, let's say it was very awkward."

Gibbs laughed out loud, but Tony looked horrified.

"Is that what you wanna talk about?" He gulped. "Please don't. I know where babies come from. Please don't talk about it."

Both parents laughed at his horrified expression before they realized what he'd said.

"What?"... "You _know_ where babies come from?" They asked in unison; now it was their turn to look aghast.

"Where? How?" Jethro asked further, sounding appalled.

"Where they come _from_?" Tony grimaced and hoped they weren't actually asking _that_ to make sure he knew where babies came from.

"Shit, no!" Gibbs exclaimed hurriedly, not sure how their discussion had gotten so out of hand.

"How do you know it? You're just 7, Tony!" Shannon clarified, looking disturbed that his son knew things like that at such a young age.

"I... Umm, my father told me."

Gibbs' eyebrows rose comically. "Your..." He trailed off; he was pretty sure that DiNozzo Sr. had never had a normal conversation with his son and yet he'd told him about _this_?

Shannon was pretty confused too.

Tony sighed and looked embarrassed; he knew he had to explain now, even though he really hated to talk about the kinda things that had happened in that house, "I... I once walked... I was 5. One night, I was thirsty so I woke up to go get some water and I saw my father with a woman in the hallway. They were... I... They-" He stammered quietly, looking away from his parents. "They didn't care that I was there and I was scared and I wanted to go back to my room, but he... he was drunk, and he kinda told me that that's how babies are produced if you're not careful and said I was a mistake because he hadn't been careful and... And then he made me watch them because I was supposed to learn it so that... So when I grow up I won't screw up like he had before me." He was now looking down, feeling once again grossed out and wished he could unsee and unhear everything from that night. He'd gotten sick and hadn't been able to sleep or eat for days and it'd taken a severe beating from his father to bring him out of his funk, or well, force him out of it.

Both Gibbs and Shannon looked disgusted at hearing that. They knew their son had been through hell, but to expose him to that kind of thing at 5? It pretty much counted as sexual abuse.

"Oh, God! Baby, I'm so sorry you had to go through that." Shannon pulled her son to herself and hugged him tightly.

Gibbs got up and started to pace up and down the room, trying to bring his anger under control; he wished he could just find the bastard who was Tony's biological father and break every single bone in his body and leave him for a slow, painful death.

Tony, from where he was being squeezed by his mom, eyed his dad and wondered if he was mad at him.

Shannon felt Tony's doubt and fear and quietly murmured reassuring words to him. "It's OK, baby. Your dad is just thinking about what to do to your biological father for hurting you."

Tony gasped. "You're not gonna kill him, are you?"

"Hurting others is never right, but just this once, I will if you want me to." Gibbs said it with a tight smile, but he meant every word.

"No." Tony shook his head vigorously. "Then you'll go to jail. And he's strong, what if he hurts you?"

"Oh, you're saying I can't take him?" Gibbs sat down on Tony's bed and gave him a mock-hurt look.

"He was bigger." Tony shrugged.

Gibbs seemed to consider it and then shrugged. "But, I'm better trained." He sounded very proud of himself.

Tony smiled at his dad's antics and the smile loosened the knot in Gibbs' chest.

"Come here, Son."

Shannon let go of him so he could go to his dad.

Tony walked to him and sat beside the man on the bed.

"Like I said, hurting people is never alright; but some people don't deserve to see the light of day, and your biological father is one of them. We're sorry you had to live with him for years."

Tony looked down and shrugged. "It was bad for him, too. He didn't want me."

"Well, it's his loss. We've already agreed that he's cruel and very very _very_ stupid. But at least because of his stupidity, we got to have an amazing son like you."

Tony looked up to see if the man he now thought of as his dad meant what he'd said and he saw nothing but kindness and sincerity in his eyes. That brought a shy smile to his face.

Shannon didn't want to ruin the moment, so she got up to go get the dinner ready, but before leaving the room, she bent down and kissed Tony's hair. "You made us a real family. Thank you, Tony."

"Dad? Can I ask you something?" He asked once they were alone; he needed to ask this question, but he didn't want to embarrass himself too much, so he preferred to ask it from just one of his new parents.

"Sure. Go ahead." Gibbs replied and readied himself like he was about to be tested. "Make it easy, though. I haven't had enough coffee, today. I can't answer complicated questions."

Tony chuckled, thankful that Gibbs was trying to make it easy for him. "I... You..."

"OK, you don't have to make it _that_ easy." Gibbs smiled, gently pushing his son to ask his question without being so worried.

"Did you take me in because you felt sorry for me?" He finally asked and then looked down.

Gibbs winced slightly; after talking to Abby, he knew this had come to Tony's mind from what Kate had said. "What?" He feigned shock, though; no need for Tony to think they'd prepared their answers beforehand. Knowing him, he'd think that they didn't mean it if their answers weren't spontaneous. "Where has _that_ come from?"

Tony just shrugged.

OK, so he wasn't going to rat Kate out. Good boy. Gibbs silently approved. "Of course not. Wait, did you accept us as your parents out of pity?"

Tony frowned with confusion. He wasn't sure how that worked. "I... No. It's not like I chose you."

"Well, we were childless; we desperately wanted a son like you; you could've felt sorry for this poor childless couple and let them adopt you and then called them mom and dad just to make them happy." Gibbs reasoned, sounding serious.

Tony thought about it; it sounded weird; kinda. But Tony loved Gibbs and Shannon; he hadn't felt sorry for them. "You were desperate?"

Gibbs sighed and looked forlorn. "Very. We didn't know what we were supposed to do if you had said no to us. You didn't know? Does that mean you didn't do it out of pity?"

Tony shook his head. "It really doesn't work like that, Dad." he smiled nevertheless. "Thanks, though."

Gibbs smiled back. "No, son, thank _you_. You might not think it, but it does work like that. You could've refused to accept us as your parents; you could be living with us, but not see us as your family; you could refuse to call us mom and dad. So, you see? You' _ve_ let us in."

"But you're the best parents any kid could have." Tony stated honestly, not getting how his dad thought there was a way they could be rejected as anyone's parents.

"And _you_ are the best son anyone could wish for."

"My real parents didn't want me, though. They knew I was worthless. My dad threw me out."

"No, Tony. They didn't know _anything_ at all. They didn't know what it means to be a family; what it means to be parents and what it means to love someone. They were miserable. And just because they were sick in the head and couldn't understand or appreciate the gift they'd been given, it doesn't mean that _you_ 'd done something wrong or that anything had been wrong with _you_. You're precious and you're part of our family now and like your mom just said, _you_ made us a real family. So, don't ever think that those people knew anything. Besides, we're way wiser and cooler and _we_ say you're amazing. Which one of us are you gonna believe?"

Tony grinned, but then again the grin faded slightly. "So, you're not gonna get rid of me when you get tired of me?"

Quietly praying for patience so he wouldn't go and actually murder Tony's father or go and snap at Kate, Gibbs squeezed Tony's shoulder. "First of all, we're never gonna get tired of you; we might all get frustrated with each other; because that's what happens in a family; people frustrate each other and then they remember good moments and move on and create more of those good moments together; but they never get tired of each other. And second, get rid of? What are you? A shirt? You're already getting bigger than me..." He paused and regarded Tony. "OK, no, that's not true; it probably won't happen for a few more years; thank God! But yeah, you know what I mean."

Tony chuckled happily. It was good to know that he, too, had a real family. Kate had been wrong; he didn't need to pretend; he was already with his family and had a mom and dad and an amazing little sister who loved him as much as he loved them.

"Thanks for not letting me become a street kid." He said as Gibbs stood up and took his hand so they could go have dinner.

Hiding his wince with a snort, Gibbs said, "If we haven't seen you first, another couple would've snatched you. Believe me, Son, we just won the prize." He stated firmly and his chest swelled with pride and happiness when Tony squeezed his hand tightly.

A crisis had been averted and Gibbs was truly delighted about it; now if only he could also erase the images of the abuse that the boy had suffered from his own mind and of course from Tony's mind, that'd be perfect; and he was sure that there were still things in Tony's past that the boy hadn't told anyone about. He wished he could took them away, too; because if what had just been revealed minutes ago about how Tony had found out about sex was anything to go by, then things were a lot worse in Tony's head than they'd first anticipated. But well, they couldn't take away every problem all at once; thankfully, this time, they'd been successful and hopefully they'd be every other time, as well. Tony was theirs now and Gibbs knew they all cared too much about that kid to let anything happen to him, physically or emotionally.

**.**

**.**

**To be concluded...  
**

**.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter to just wrap up this story with a more determined ending.

"Hey, Kate. Can we talk to you?" Shannon poked her head inside the young girl's room, later that night.

"Uh, yeah. Sure." She shrugged as she walked away from the window, where she was standing and eyeing the rain; and sat straight on her bed.

Shannon went to the bed to sit beside her while Gibbs turned her chair around and sat down.

"So, how's everything?" Gibbs asked, not sure how to start this conversation; in a way, it was much harder than the one they'd had with Tony; they didn't want to hurt Kate's feeling or pride but they knew she needed to learn a lesson there and teaching a lesson was always harder for parents than many other things.

"Good, I guess. I talked to my Dad today and he said I could go visit my mom this weekend."

"Oh, that's great. I'm happy for you." Shannon smiled genuinely.

"Thanks." She smiled.

As Gibbs and Shannon exchanged a look, silently asking each other to talk first, Kate got bored and started the conversation herself.

"Look, guys... Umm, is this about my fight with Tony? I mean I know you've noticed. I didn't want to say anything and I don't know what he's told you, but what happened was his own fault; I swear. He shouldn't have snooped around in my room. He deserved it." She crossed her arms defiantly and held her chin up.

Sometimes Gibbs felt that this girl was a tad too confident and too full of herself; but well, she was just a kid and it wasn't exactly up to him to teach her right from wrong or how to feel about herself. So, he kept that opinion to himself; what he couldn't keep to himself was his disappointment for the way she'd treated his son.

"So, he deserved to hear that he's worthless and no one wants him?" He frowned. "You saying that it was actually his own fault for not having a caring family before coming to us?"

"Well..." She trailed off and finally seemed to be losing a bit of her attitude.

"You told him he has no real family."

"He doesn't." She whispered.

"What are we then?" Gibbs frowned.

"Kate, do you think you had any hand in choosing your family?" Shannon took over; asking kindly but firmly. "That if you were born to the family that Tony was born to, they'd have loved you but would've still hated Tony and would've thrown him out anyway? Or are you suggesting that if Tony had been born to _your_ mom and dad, they, too, would've thrown him out and couldn't love him?"

Gibbs jumped in. "Or maybe you believe that if he'd been our biological son; because he already is our _real_ son; but do you think if he'd been born here things would've been different than how they are now?"

"I... No. No, that's not what I meant." She shook her head, looking between the two grownups, finally starting to realize how her words had sounded to the others.

"Then how exactly has Tony deserved any of the things you've said?" Gibbs's eyes bore into her. "And before you put it on Tony, _he_ didn't say anything to us; Abby did."

"He was messing with my photos." She defended herself weakly.

"Abby also said that Tony has done nothing to your photos and that he'd just been looking at them because he'd found them nice; because he hadn't had the kind of growing up that you have; that's why he found it interesting and wanted to see how it'd been for you."

Kate looked down; she hadn't known that; she hadn't let Tony explain and had just snapped at him. She could clearly hear her dad's voice in her head, saying _'told you so.'_

"I should've asked him first. I just thought..." She trailed off.

"Yes, honey! You really should've asked." Shannon nodded and then put an arm around her shoulders. "Kate, we understand that you miss your home and your mom and dad and that this is really hard for you; but you gotta know that you can't say things to people just because you're having a hard time. It's not Tony's fault that you have to stay away from your family; just like it hasn't been his fault that his parents had been stupid enough to not want him."

The girl nodded and muttered an apology.

"Also, you don't really know anything about Tony and his past; so, please keep your opinion about his family to yourself." Gibbs added sternly. "Tony's a great boy and he _does_ have a family that loves him; _us_. We love him and we'd appreciate it if you didn't make him doubt us and the love that we have for him. He's our son in any sense that you're your father's daughter. You getting what I mean?"

Kate nodded again; this time feeling really ashamed for the things she'd said. "I really am sorry." She said again. "My father always tells me that I open my mouth and say things without thinking when I'm angry."

"And I bet he tells you that it's not a good trait."

"Yes." She sounded well-chastised.

"You know what you gotta do?" Shannon probed gently.

Kate swallowed before saying, "I have to apologize to Tony, right?"

"That'd be a great thing to do; yes." She nodded encouragingly. "You two are gonna live together for a while longer yet and I'm sure you'd rather be able to play with him than having to just sit here and read your books or look out the window at the empty street."

"He is kinda fun to play with when he doesn't play jokes." She stated quietly.

"I'm sure he thinks the same way about you."

"Do you think he'll forgive me?"

"He's the most forgiving person I know." Gibbs stated with certainty and then smiled, "and that includes everyone in this house."

Shannon laughed at hearing that, knowing what her husband was getting at. "Yeah, he's definitely more forgiving than you are!"

"I meant you, Lady!" Jethro said indignantly, but then shrugged and laughed along. "But yeah, guess, you've got a point."

Kate watched them bantering easily and smiled; glad to be forgiven by the adults; getting up, she went to Tony's room to talk to him.

She'd been wrong; Tony hadn't deserved the things she'd said; not even if he'd been messing with her photos. And she knew that after this, she had to apologize to Abby, too and despite the age difference, she knew it'd be much harder to make Abby forgive her.

Gibbs and Shannon followed her outside and watched as she knocked and entered Tony's room; they'd done their part and the outcome seemed to be acceptable. So, happily, they laced their fingers together and walked down the stairs to grab two soothing cups of coffee in the comfortable silence.

Their home would soon be a roaring war zone again; what else could they ask for?

**.**

**.**

**The End...**

**.**

 


End file.
